Pooch perfect: A dog’s journey from the outback to pampered city digs

1 week ago 4

Today, she’s a city dog, trotting along Melbourne pavements on a leash, but glimpses of Moana’s past life in an outback town remain.

The terrier hates being alone, says owner Paul Gosney, and won’t wear a coat. At the beach, she loves sand but not water.

Moana the terrier in Melbourne with owner Paul Gosney, his mother, Irene, and Aussie Desert Dogs founder Gloria Morales.

But he says Moana is “an amazing soul” who is now a cherished family pet.

Moana is among 1800 unwanted “camp dogs” from Yuendumu, in the Northern Territory, that have been sent to new homes across Australia, under the not-for-profit program Aussie Desert Dogs.

Last week, program founder Gloria Morales happily reunited with Moana and Gosney in Melbourne.

Morales, who is assistant manager of Yuendumu’s renowned Warlukurlangu art centre, was exhibiting Indigenous artists’ work at the Affordable Art Fair at the Royal Exhibition Building.

Moana after her 2019 surgery, with Gloria Morales.

Morales met Moana in 2018 after the terrier was hit by a car, suffering a broken hip. She recuperated at Morales’ Yuendumu house.

Six months later, a pregnant Moana had complications during labour. Morales drove Moana for three hours from Yuendumu to Alice Springs where, at midnight, a vet operated to remove Moana’s four dead puppies.

Although Moana survived, her owners, a Nyirripi family, couldn’t look after her and gave her to Morales.

Paul Gosney, a Melbourne-based photographer, met Moana when visiting Yuendumu in 2019 with his sons to photograph artists for a gallery.

Gloria Morales, founder of Aussie Desert Dogs, with Moana (the little dog) in Yuendumu, Northern Territory.

Gosney had been looking for a pet dog – not a puppy, but small. “Why don’t you take Moana?” Morales suggested.

She says that while parting with Moana was sad, “I knew that she could have a better life somewhere else”.

Moana now lives between Gosney’s Hawthorn townhouse, his ex-wife’s Toorak apartment and Gosney’s mother Irene’s CBD apartment, and is doted on by Gosney’s sons, Finn and Harry.

“She has all the attention that she wants,” says Morales. “It’s a nice feeling to know that she is happy.”

Gloria Morales reunites with Moana outside Melbourne’s Exhibition Building.

When Morales arrived to work in Yuendumu 20 years ago, she noticed the state of some of the community’s dogs.

There were no vets to treat injuries or diseases such as scabies, and there were continuous litters of puppies. While some residents fed and loved the dogs, others saw them as pests that stole food.

Morales raised funds for vets from Darwin and Alice Springs to visit, and they still come every four months to desex and treat dogs.

In 2010, a friend suggested starting an adoption program, and Aussie Desert Dogs was born, now operating through the Pet Rescue website.

Paul Gosney’s son, Finn, (centre) with Yuendumu locals and Moana in the Northern Territory.

Dogs are desexed, vaccinated and microchipped by the program and sent by road and air all over the country. There is an adoption fee.

The program is funded by Yuendumu’s Warlukurlangu arts centre and by the Granites Mine Affected Area Aboriginal Corporation – a community support fund set up by the Central Land Council.

Morales said with more funding, vets could come to Yuendumu more often.

In Melbourne, Gosney says Moana has proved the perfect pet. “She bonded very quickly to us.”

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.